Ricoh GR

The Ricoh GR ($799.95 direct) is the rare camera that does just about everything right. It's a fixed-lens compact with a 18.3mm (28mm equivalent) f/2.8 prime lens and a 16-megapixel APS-C image sensor, the same size found in most D-SLRs. It will undoubtedly draw comparisons to the Nikon Coolpix A, but the GR edges the Coolpix out in terms of image quality, performance, and ergonomics. And it ousts our current Editors' Choice prime-lens compact, the pricey but stellar Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1. The GR is a full $2,000 less, and represents a better value.

Design and Features
About the same size as larger point-and-shoot cameras and smaller compact interchangeable lens cameras, the GR measures 2.4 by 4.6 by 1.4 inches (HWD) and weighs about 8.6 ounces. It's a bit slimmer than the Nikon Coolpix A (2.6 by 4.4 by 1.6 inches, 10.6 ounces). Both cameras are small enough to slide into your shirt pocket.

The controls are designed so you can fully operate the camera with one hand. With the exception of an Effect button and the manual flash release, which are located on the left side of the camera, all of the shooting controls are on the right side. By default the Effect button previews depth of field, but it can be reprogrammed to perform any of a about two dozen functions. There's a control wheel on the top front, directly in front of the shutter release. Also on the top plate are the Mode dial and the Power button.

The rear houses a dedicated Plus/Minus rocker that adjusts EV compensation, as well as dedicated buttons to enable macro shooting, control flash output, and adjust white balance. Two buttons, labeled Fn1 and Fn2, can be reprogrammed with the same versatility as the Effect button; by default they control the focus point position and the self-timer. There's a toggle switch that lets you activate focus and exposure lock or to engage continuous autofocus by holding down an integrated button. There's also an adjustment lever; press it to activate a software menu that allows you to scroll through and adjust any of five customizable functions. By default it is configured to adjust the ISO, image quality, aspect ratio, focus mode, and metering pattern controls by jogging it left or right.

There's also a more detailed Menu system that's a bit dense and text based. Advanced shooters will find that there are any number of useful functions that can be customized. You can enable snap focus shooting, which immediately fires off a shot without first confirming focus when the shutter is pressed down all the way. The distance to which the camera focuses is adjustable when this is engaged; 1 meter, 1.5 meters, 2 meters, 2.5 meters, 5 meters, and infinity are options. This is helpful for street shooters working at smaller apertures, as the camera can be set to a certain distance that will allow depth of field to capture most of the scene in focus. Direct access to adjust the snap focus distance is one of functions that can be assigned to the Effect, Fn1, or Fn2 buttons, or to the adjustment lever.

A number of effect filters are available, but they'll only apply when shooting JPG. These include a couple different black-and-white settings, a washed-out bleach bypass look, the faux tilt-shift miniature effect, and others. All of these can be fine-tuned for a more dramatic or subtle effect. The color output for standard JPG shots can also be adjusted; you have access to sliders that control saturation, contrast, sharpness and vignetting.

The camera's lens has a focal length of 18.3mm, which is roughly equivalent to a 28mm lens in 35mm film or full-frame digital photography. The Coolpix A and the Sigma DP1 Merrill are the only other fixed-lens compacts currently on the market that match this wide-angle field of view. The Ricoh GR is a bit more versatile; a wide-angle adapter is available that delivers a 21mm field of view with very little loss in image quality. There's also an in-camera crop mode that narrows field of view to that of a 35mm lens; this mode works even if you're shooting exclusively in Raw, but image resolution is reduced to 10 megapixels.

As you would expect in an enthusiast-level camera, the rear LCD is top-notch. It's 3 inches and features a tightly packed 1.2-million-dot resolution. It's just as sharp as the 920k dot display found on Nikon's similar Coolpix A, but has an extra layer of white pixels for better viewing on bright days.

You get a hot shoe, which can be used to mount a flash or an external optical viewfinder. When using the optical viewfinder you can disable the LCD entirely; you'll have to place some trust in the the GR's autofocus system as there is no shooting information displayed in a simple glass eyepiece. The focus is quick and accurate so there should be no worries there.

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